Advocate Harbour

My wonderful friend Blanche is also my unpaid Nova Scotia travel guide and she had long been telling me to visit Advocate Harbour and stay at a little campground she loves. My parents coming seemed the perfect opportunity to go and with it only two hours away we went for the weekend and booked one night where she suggested. It was fun to be exploring somewhere totally new to all of us and it turned out for me to be one of the highlights of my whole time in Nova Scotia.

We set out and stopped an hour in for a break in the town of Truro. My parents very much enjoy an antique store and we spotted the first of many on our way in. Finley found his little ceramic otters to remember how much he loved seeing the otters at the wildlife part with grandma and Aunty Courtney scored and antique camera. We went for a little walk to look at the beautiful library they have restored in Truro, browsed some quaint shops and stopped for some bakery treats before getting back on the road. I had never driven this direction from Truro before and it is definitely one of the prettiest drives in Nova Scotia. It was immediately evident that Blanche had understated just how incredible this part of Nova Scotia is! We stopped at an antiquing hub with four different stores and spent awhile pursing, then on we went to discover some true natural gems. We got to the absolutely incredible view of Five Islands, which is magical and I hope to return to next summer. We spotted a Gouda shop with a petting zoo and stopped awhile to get some samples and enjoy the place up on the hill. And then on through Parrsborro where we took a break and wandered the sweet town. At points along the drive we were able to see clearly the other side of the Bay of Fundy and most notably Cape Split where we hiked last summer. It was quite incredible seeing it from the other side and knowing we had been right out on that point. Next stop was our accommodation, where we had two lovely cabins side by side on a stretch of land that once once an old shipyard. It was such a cool place with it's own lighthouse and much to learn about the history and the incredible feat of building boats here. The tides are also amazing and when we arrived the tide was high and the kids had a little swim before it started to go out. While they swam we spotted a seal in the distance and even found some washed up sea glass right at the edge of the water. After we had a rest and settled in we went to the number one rated restaurant in Nova Scotia the Wild Caraway where the food was amazing! We had scallops and steak, salads and desserts and it turns out the chef was from Melbourne, which  made us laugh! With so much driving I took the kids out to some hammocks near by the restaurant and we had some fun swinging together while we waited for our food. The timing of the whole day was just perfect and we made it to another incredible spot, the Cape D'or Lighthouse right at sunset. It's a short but steep walk down to an amazing view from the edge of steep cliff. Sunset was just perfect, the colours and wildflowers all gleaming in the muted light. What a day! A perfect beautiful day.

I won't pretend that this holiday didn't have a little hiccup...Levi being stuck at work and missing Day 1. Writing that now doesn't seem as big a deal as it did to me at the time ... so I'll just put it down to my disappointment of not having my favourite person in the world with us from the start. When he did arrive he came bearing chocolate so as I munched my way through the box my emotions gradually subsided, ha ha. Happy to have him back with us we enjoy a restful sleep with the sound of softly lapping waves in the distance.

On Day 2 we continued further up the coast and our first stop was Cape Chignecto Provincial Park where we took a walk to the beach which was just beautiful. It was absolutely covered with drift wood and had some amazing rocks and the red, red sand you find in some spots of the bay of Fundy. It felt a bit like Mars there! We carried on to walk into the Three Sisters rock formations. This was a beautiful walk that took us past historic places and eroding rock formations and explained some of the folk lore of the area connected to them. The drive into this spot was an adventure in it'self. The tides can block off some of the dirt roads, but we were lucky to get through and the community out in this area is very remote. You aren't sure if you are in the right place until you arrive and you are glad you did. We also stopped at an awesome little gift store with all sorts of handmade treasures. We bought some buoys for our future beach house and mum bought the kids the cutest little knitted mouse and peas in a pod. Our next stop was the Joggins Cliffs, a world UNESCO site preserved for it's fossils. We went on a tour where they showed us fossils of entire tree limbs, little leaves, animals. Although pretty cool, it was all fairly grey and windy and a little visit gave us our fill. Inside they have a display where you could see how important this site has been in dating and identification of past species which drew it all together.

With our last stop complete we looped around to the highway and headed home. It was only a short weekend trip but it was truly a highlight of my Nova Scotia experience. There is so much natural beauty here, so much history and it all feels so unique to this part of the world. I am forever grateful to have been able to experience it.